9 movies you probably didn't know Pee-wee Herman creator Paul Reubens appeared in
Jason Guerrasio
- Paul Reubens, who died on Sunday, is known best for playing Pee-wee Herman.
- However, he also appeared in other movies playing other characters.
One of his first movie roles was playing a waiter in "The Blues Brothers" (1980).
In the early 1970s, Reubens began working at comedy clubs and eventually found his way into the famed Los Angeles improv group, The Groundlings.
After six years there, he created the Pee-wee Herman character and eventually landed gigs in TV and movies.
One of his first movie roles was playing a waiter in the classic comedy "The Blues Brothers."
He played the outlandish Howie Hamburger Dude in "Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams" (1981).
You can credit the comedy duo Cheech and Chong for introducing the world to Pee-wee Herman.
After the success of their first movie, "Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke," they were able to make a second movie, "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie," in which Reubens got a small role playing Pee-wee as well as an angry desk clerk.
In their third movie, "Nice Dreams," they cast Reubens again, this time as the sneaky Howie Hamburger Dude. Playing a cocaine-snorting mental patient, Reubens delivered weird voices and weirder antics.
He was an angry bus driver named Albert in "Meatballs Part II" (1984).
In this raunchy comedy, Reubens appeared as Albert, who drove the camp kids around on the school bus.
He voiced Max in "Flight of the Navigator" (1986).
As Reubens was gaining national acclaim playing Pee-wee, he was cast as the voice of a spacecraft that a young boy discovers. Playing the ship's robotic commander, Max, he's the movie's comic relief and emotional center.
Reubens would go on to do more voice work throughout his career, ranging from voicing one of the bullies in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" to the Jokey character in the "Smurfs" movies.
He played Penguin's Father in "Batman Returns" (1992).
For the second movie in the Michael Keaton-led Batman franchise, Reubens teamed up again with his "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" director Tim Burton for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo.
He appeared at the beginning of the movie as The Penguin's (Danny DeVito) father.
He also showed up as the villain Amilyn in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1992).
Before Sarah Michelle Gellar turned Buffy into a hit TV character, Kristy Swanson played the titular vampire hunter in this cheesy movie.
Reubens plays one of the movie's main villains (and comic relief), Amilyn.
He played a bumbling FBI agent in "Matilda" (1996).
After Reubens was arrested for indecent exposure in an adult theater in Sarasota, Florida in 1991, he instantly became a punchline on the late-night shows and his Pee-wee character disappeared for decades.
However, Reubens still needed to make a living. DeVito cast him in "Matilda" as an FBI agent investigating Matilda's dad (DeVito), who owns a shady used-car lot.
Though he looks to be a good agent, he's no match for the magical Matilda who is able to thwart his efforts.
The role proved to Hollywood that Reubens could play more than just Pee-wee.
He played the hilarious "The Spleen" in "Mystery Men" (1999).
In "Mystery Men," Reubens found another role where he could do some scene-stealing.
Playing "The Spleen," an amateur superhero whose power is flatulence, he crafts a lovable character alongside others played by Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, William H. Macy, and Janeane Garofalo.
He found critical acclaim as drug dealer Derek Foreal in "Blow" (2001).
It wasn't often that Reubens found himself in a drama, but when he did get the chance, he showed he could pull off the non-comedic roles.
That was definitely the case in this acclaimed movie in which Johnny Depp plays real-life drug trafficker George Jung.
Reubens plays a drug dealer who eventually connects Jung with kingpin Pablo Escobar. He's perfect as a money-hungry egotistical connector.
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